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The Red Bandanna: A Life. A Choice. A Legacy.

Review

There’s that old saying that it doesn’t matter what trophies you collect, awards or fancy cars you have, or big houses you live in --- when you die, people will remember who you are, not what you had. Never is that more true than in Tom Rinaldi’s poetic rendering of the life of one young man who left an amazing legacy with remarkable kindness on a day that will live in infamy in this country and around the world. The story of Welles Remy Crowther, grandson of the famed New York Times critic Bosley Crowther, is a powerful reminder of the kind of bravery that is rediscovered every time we acknowledge the anniversary of September 11th and the thousands of people who died helping others out of the catastrophic horrors of that day in 2001. THE RED BANDANNA will bring tears of remembrance and gratitude to the eyes, minds and hearts of anyone who grasps the largesse of such stories.

"[A]ll of us who were there that day or remember that day will find THE RED BANDANNA to be a perfect way to re-examine the real reason beyond terrorism that the 9/11 narratives will always mean so much to all of us. This is a stellar literary achievement."

It is not unusual to hear that someone attempted great leaps of faith and good over the evil that perpetrated September 11th, especially in downtown Manhattan and the Pentagon, and in the air over a Pennsylvania meadow. But it is rare that you get the full story behind the life of one of those people, where you really get to see what they were, who they were, what events brought them to the amazing things they did on that day, what kind of lives they led, and what experiences made them the kind of people who would give up their own lives to help others in the most dramatic ways. Such is the story of Welles Crowther, a young man who always wanted to be a firefighter and told his father a month before his death that he wanted to leave the equities trading job he had begun to become a bona fide firefighter. Weeks later, he had the opportunity to put his best instincts as a firefighter to work and save men and women escaping the first burning tower of the World Trade Center. He did not leave that building with them, but they left because of him.

Welles loved fire trucks. He got a ride-on toy fire truck when he was a little boy. During summers on Martha’s Vineyard, he trained to be a volunteer firefighter, as his brothers had. His physical strength came from a hard-won athleticism and his moral strength from a history of strong parenting and inherent goodness. He was a small kid who was bullied and had to learn to stick up for himself. And then he learned to stick up for others as well and left a legion of friends, family and admirers behind to praise him when he perished in the attacks on Manhattan.

It is stunningly written, this nonfiction tale, this sort-of memoir by ESPN correspondent Tom Rinaldi, and speaks volumes about the kind of man that Welles was. The story is so American --- suburban upbringing, a sense of service and duty, love of country and family, a bent towards education, a forward-looking leap into the future. This young man was living the proverbial dream. Until that fateful day when Welles made a huge sacrifice that defined the legacy he hadn’t realized he was honing.

The specific detail of the red bandanna was mentioned in the speech Barack Obama made when opening the 9/11 memorial in downtown Manhattan. His statements referred to the bravery of Welles and the fact that survivors helped by his smart moves indentified him as “the man in the red bandanna.”

It was a short life but well lived, and the memories that are shared by friends, family and co-workers are rich and compelling. They helped to put together the jigsaw that was the complicated being named Welles. The stories by his family of the day when he went missing and the aftermath of that horror are overwhelming and unforgettable. Rinaldi never goes for the jugular, although his poetic writing style may seem a bit schmaltzy to some. However, given the rare and remarkable tale that he is telling, this poetic lilt is highly compelling, making a stirring story even more heartbreaking and something that won’t be forgotten for a long while after the last page is read.

There are small details in the book that will make it all the more real to those who have been in similar circumstances. But all of us who were there that day or remember that day will find THE RED BANDANNA to be a perfect way to re-examine the real reason beyond terrorism that the 9/11 narratives will always mean so much to all of us. This is a stellar literary achievement.

Tom Rinaldi

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